Indigenous communities in Peru are using new technologies to detect and combat deforestation in their territories. Indigenous territorial monitors receive deforestation alerts from satellite data, speeding up their ability to detect and intervene against illegal deforestation. Communities Combat Coca Growers was produced by If Not Us Then Who? and Rainforest Foundation US. The video follows territorial monitors from the indigenous communities of Nuevo Saposoa and Patria Nueva who are putting the new technologies to use.
The Muyuna Floating Film Festival showcased a unique floating screen, bringing films directly to riverside communities in the Peruvian Amazon. During the festival, Rainforest Foundation US supported an Indigenous Cinema Workshop, emphasizing the urgent need to understand these issues from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Here’s an insight at the heart of RFUS’s work: Lands legally controlled by Indigenous peoples and local communities show lower rates of deforestation—up to a 66% reduction in forest cover loss. Listen to Cameron Ellis and Kim Chaix of Rainforest Foundation US speak about the power of land titling.
RFUS celebrates a major victory as 20 Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon received land titles. Land titles are the most effective way to reduce deforestation in Indigenous peoples’ territory, resulting in a 66% reduction in forest cover loss.
Rainforest Foundation US believes that our Rainforest Alert program can avoid nearly 4,000 square miles (1 million hectares) of deforestation over the coming decade – that’s twice the size of Delaware.
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Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
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Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.